Primary Menu

Free Ride: When freedom sounds like guitars

Free Ride is a song written by Daniel Hearl Hartman. Danny for everyone, was an American producer, musician and singer. Born in 1950 he died in 1994 from an AIDS-related brain cancer that he had contracted years earlier. His private life remains a real mystery: he never got married, he had no children. Only when he died was known that he had a brother and a sister.
On the other hand, his career was brilliant. Danny has worked with many of the world’s greatest music stars: Paul Young, Joe Coker, James Brown and Tina Turner, to name but a few.

The debut

He made a very young debut: when he was 13 he already had his band, The Legend. His personality on stage was very predominant, perhaps because of his talent. He was able to move from bass to guitar to singing with an enviable skill and fluency. One of his first collaborations as a producer was with the Edgar Winter Group in 1972. For them he wrote and produced a song that became the second hit of the group: Free Ride.
In many live performances Danny Hartman played the opening guitar riff of Free Ride and many say he literally stole the scene from the band and his leader Edgar Winter.

Edgar Winter

But Edgar was also not unnoticed. Born albino as his brother Johnny, Edgar grew in focus. Perhaps for its physical peculiarity. But against what one can think was never ghettoized or bolted. In many interviews, Edgar states that he lived a happy childhood and adolescence. He was a very popular guy. Like Hartman, he was a multi-instrumentalist: keyboards, guitars, saxophones and percussions, his “specialties”.

Free Ride

Free Ride is a song included in the Edgar Winter Group album They only come out at night, 1972. The style is rock-blue and the guitar and bass are of particular relevance in the song. The initial riff is played by Hartman who as usual catches the scene, alternating with a “double neck” guitar and bass.
Hartman is also the lead voice of the song, which in fact, rather than the band, is remembered for Danny’s performances.

The lyrics

Lyrics, signed by Hartman, are a classic “on the road” style and praises freedom of travel and movement. The term freeride soon became synonymous with an adventurous and free lifestyle associated with sports such as snowboarding and mountain biking. It is no coincidence that Ford used it, in 2015, as a song symbol of a great Free Ride sales event.